Mitchies Munchies

Keto Friendly Pho | Mitchies Munchies

Keto Friendly Pho? Is there such a thing? Mitchies Munchies says yes.

I know some of you might be saying, ‘Mitchie what’s the deal, you make sugar but don’t eat it? what gives?’ Bear with me, I’ll blog about Munchies and Munchies Keto-fied. This lifestyle of eating has made a huge difference in not only my waistline but how i feel overall. I feel better, not tired and uninspired like I was in 2016. I want to be able to share what’s working for me so I shall!

My hubs’ newest obsesh is Pho, I’m more of a ramen fiend myself. I’ve had Pho before and didn’t like it all that much because I discovered I was eating it wrong. We’ll touch base on that later. I get super jelly when my hubs says he’s having Pho for lunch at work. Man, I want that. So I scoured the webs for some keto friendly advice. Here’s some sweet and condensed info, the broth is bone broth, full of collagen and FAT! One serving of Keto Pho won’t put you in carb jail, but if you’re counting macros this recipe will fat saturate you PHO SHO! There’s less than 4 carbs per serving, which comes from the spices used…so I’m thinking the net carbs are actually lower. I’m still researching why dry spices are so carby. So far it’s how they are milled and treated. Gotta be on the lookout for the spices processed with corn starch; onion and garlic powders are sneaky like that. This recipe is packed with protein, I suggest it be your biggest meal of the day!

With any lengthy process of a recipe it’s considered a labor of love – but if you have that keto energy you won’t even notice time. Some recommendations: for the proteins shop at your local butcher if possible, to speed up some simmer time use an instant pot or crock pot express (you’ll see it in my process below).

Beef bones and oxtail…parboil or roast? Both! I added them to a stainless steel stock pot and covered with four quarts of water, brought it to a boil and simmered for fifteen minutes. While that was happening I preheated the oven to 425 degrees, halved a large white onion and a fresh palm sized ginger root, and let the chuck roast and brisket come to room temp (ideally, let those beefs come to room temp for about an hour).

Once the parboil was complete I gave all the bones a good rinse under cold water removing as much grit as possible. Lined a baking sheet with foil and lined up the bones and tail. Roasted for about 20 minutes flipped them over, added the onion and ginger face up; roasted for another 30. Moved the bones and tail into a clean stock pot and bumped up the oven to broil the onion and ginger until they started to turn black. I could have let the onions roast longer I think, but I set one on fire so that was enough fire for me HA!

Added the beefs to the pot with bones and tail and covered with four quarts of clean water. I made a spice parcel.. two layers of cheesecloth wide enough to fit the cinnamon stick, added stars, coriander, cloves, and fennel seeds. Tied it up with some kitchen string and plopped it into the stock pot with the roasted ginger and onions. Lastly, added the fish sauce, kosher salt, and erythritol. Brought it to a boil over high heat, reduced heat, covered and simmered for 90 minutes. The next few steps, I didn’t take pics because my hands were full and I was too excited to stop and grab my Arkon Pro Stand (which by the way, shameless plug…mention MITCHIE at arkon.com and they’ll take 20% off your total order before shipping DOPE!)

Okay back to Keto Pho! Removed the chuck and brisket, placed into a large dish and covered with cold water (this stops the cooking process and your beef will be super tender later). Got a Crock Pot Express? GREAT! This step will shave off about 5 hours of simmering time. Transferred remaining ingredients and broth into the Express, closed lid, and sealed steam vent. Set to Beef/Stew at high pressure for two hours. Once cycle was complete I did a natural pressure release. P.S. if you don’t have a Crock Pot Express simmer for 7-10 hours.

Now it was PHO TIME! Instead of using rice noodles I went for the shirataki (vegetable) noodle (Side note: rice noodles have 22 carbs per half cup. YIKES!) I sliced the brisket, chuck roast, some mushrooms super thin, cut broccoli into little florets, and prepped some basil and lime wedges. Laid my noodles in the bowl first, filled with some steamy broth, and added my toppings. FULL, so full.

I hope you give this a go! If you think you’re eating Pho right, check this out. I think my next experiment will be RAMEN!! Thanks for reading along.

ChefMitchie is a participant with Amazon Associates, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking products to amazon.com. If you purchase from her influencer shop, she may earn a small commission which helps her continue what she loves to do everyday; be creative.

Bettah BattahsPrincess Vanilla Cake meets interior design. Please note: the following designs are heavily dyed with edible food coloring. While most colors are natural food dyes it is normal for consumer to have a “colorful” dispose later.

ZooFood: pick cheetah or zebra.

Galaxy: outta this world, planets inside your cake!

Rainbow: colors of rainbow, to pastel, fave sport team colors, and ombre. Layered or tie dyed.